VOA慢速英語：挪威投資千萬美元升級全球種子庫

Norway to Invest Millions to Improve Arctic Seed Vault

挪威投資千萬美元升級全球種子庫

Norway has announced it will spend 100 million Norwegian crowns, or $13 million, to make improvements to a special seed vault in the Arctic.

挪威宣布將斥資1億挪威克朗(約合1300萬美元)升級北極一個特殊的種子庫。

The Norwegian government built the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in 2008 to store seed samples of the world's crops and plants. The vault serves as a natural deep freeze, and is meant to protect important genetic material in case of a major man-made or natural disaster.

挪威政府于2008年建立了斯瓦爾巴全球種子庫，以儲存全球作物和植物的種子樣本。該種子庫作為天然的深凍冷庫，目的是為了在遇到重大的人為或自然災(zāi)害時保護重要的遺傳物質(zhì)。

It holds seed varieties of crops from around the world, including corn, rice and grains. The vault received its one-millionth seed sample on February 26, its 10th anniversary. It has the ability to hold about 2.5 billion seeds in total.

它儲存了世界各地作物的種子品種，包括玉米、大米和谷物。該種子庫在2月26日，也就是十周年紀念日這天收到其第一百萬份種子樣本。該種子庫一共能儲存25億份種子。

The vault is located on an island about 1,000 kilometers from the North Pole. The samples are buried deep below a mountain.

該種子庫位于距離北極約1000公里的一個島上。這些種子樣本都被儲存在一座大山的深處。

Svalbard was chosen as the site of the seed bank, in part, because of the area's permafrost – a thick layer of soil that stays frozen throughout the year. It makes for excellent underground cold storage.

斯瓦爾巴群島被選為種子庫的部分原因是因為該區(qū)的永久凍土層，這是一年四季都保持凍結(jié)的一層厚厚的土壤。這為優(yōu)良的地下冷庫提供了有利條件。

But in late 2016, the permafrost began to unexpectedly melt. This caused water to flow into the entrance of the vault tunnel. Officials said the seeds were never in danger. However, the event raised concerns about the need to better protect the samples.

但是在2016年，凍土層出乎意料地開始融化，導致融水流入了種子庫的通道入口。有關(guān)官員表示，種子并無危險。不過，該事件讓人們意識到需要更好地保護這些種子樣本。

Norway's Agriculture Ministry said improvements to the vault will include a new entry tunnel. They also include construction of a service building for emergency power and cooling units and electrical equipment that might send heat through the tunnel.

挪威農(nóng)業(yè)部表示，對種子庫的升級將包括建設(shè)一條新的入口通道，還包括建造一棟服務(wù)大樓，用于放置應(yīng)急電力、冷卻裝置以及可能會向隧道輸入熱量的電器設(shè)備。

Jon Georg Dale is Norway's minister of agriculture and food. He announced the plans. He said they will help the vault continue to be a secure storage area. "It is a great and important task to safeguard all the genetic material that is crucial to global food security," he said.

約恩·耶奧格·達勒(Jon Georg Dale)是挪威農(nóng)業(yè)與食品部部長。他宣布了這些計劃。他表示會幫助種子庫繼續(xù)成為一個安全的存儲區(qū)域。他說，“保護對全球糧食安全至關(guān)重要的所有遺傳物質(zhì)是一項偉大而又重要的任務(wù)。”

The Svalbard vault acts as a backup to many of the world's seed banks. In 2015, researchers took out seeds from the vault to help build seed collections in Lebanon and Morocco. Those sites were set up to protect materials from an important seed bank in Aleppo, Syria, which was damaged by violence from the country's civil war.

斯瓦爾巴種子庫是全球許多種子庫的備份庫。2015年，研究人員從這里取出種子幫助人們在黎巴嫩和摩洛哥建立了種子庫。建造這些種子庫是為了保護出自敘利亞阿勒頗一個重要種子庫的種子，阿勒頗這個種子庫在該國的內(nèi)戰(zhàn)中被暴力所摧毀。

The seeds were re-grown and returned to the Svalbard vault last year.

這些種子在重新育種后，又在去年被重新送回了斯瓦爾巴種子庫。

Dale said such efforts show "that the seed vault is a worldwide insurance for food supply for future generations."

達勒表示，此等措施表明，種子庫是一項為后代提供食物供應(yīng)的全球保險措施。”

I'm Pete Musto.

我是皮特·瑪索。